Saturday, October 16, 2010

Instead of posting new pieces or making new pieces, I am imagining how I can create a Peeps diorama and put tiny necklaces on Peeps in iconic settings, thanks to my friend Jenny M, who had a link to the first picture below ("Creating a Masterpeeps") posted on Facebook. I couldn't believe it didn't win the Washington Post's fourth annual Peeps Show. But the winner, the Up take "Eep," is pretty awesome.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Which is not to say I don’t have ethical principles that inhibit certain questionable actions. Rather, I have this desire for the coins used by apothecaries to measure weight. Twenty grains equals one scruple. Three scruples make up a drachm. I want to make a necklace and call it Spare Scruples; Scruples to Spare; Brother, Can You Spare a Scruple...something along those lines. Even one scruple would do.

"The English word scruple originated with the Latin scrupus (‘sharp stone’), a diminutive form of which was scrupulus (‘small sharp stone’)—in common usage, the particular sort of small sharp stone that gets stuck in your sandal, causing extreme discomfort when you walk. Both of the main figurative meanings of scruple ('a very small amount' and 'reluctance due to moral misgivings') are extremely ancient and existed in Latin as well. Eventually, 'a very small amount' came to be codified as 20 grains—that is, 20 barley grains (slightly smaller than grains of wheat)—or 1/24 of an ounce (about 1.3 g). This was an apothecary measure, but then, it goes without saying that pharmacists need to have scruples." —itotd.com

Sunday, August 15, 2010

My friend Mister Jalopy reached into his metaphorical shoebox of treasures and donated two special finds to my creative whims: a 1961 L.A. City brass dog license with the most fabulous patina and an especially nice vintage miniature diatonic Hohner harmonica with curlicue-embellished reed plates of brass over a wood comb, the ends still holding on to some of their original bright red paint. Look at that awesome weensy brass bail.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

A late Victorian cut steel belt buckle is halved into yin and yang or paisley swirls and integrated into the steel and brushed-silver-plate chain of this necklace. A large antique sterling spring clip from a watch chain holds an antique steel key and a token made from an 1886 Seated Liberty dime, sporting the initials CM or MC.

Poem, by Frank O'Hara

The little roses, the black majestic sailsof their promise! or is it a dove paralyzing the air?Where vessels fled across the water, therea railroad was constructed by the few remaining birdsand it was called "Heliotrope, Aldebaran, Cous-cous."For the time, for the afternoon of their accomplishment,the roses rested--and that they were doves resting on the wavesbecame known to them, as the sail knows the air it fills.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

This has nothing to do with jewelry. Or maybe it does but I just don't know how right now. I'm really sleepy. Right before I drifted off, this joke popped into my head. I don't know why. I haven't thought about Annette Funicello for years. Mickey Mouse I've thought of as recently as 2008, when I worked for Disney.

I shook Mike awake.

"Wake up! I have to tell you this joke so I don't forget it! It's really good!"

"Mummblemmmblemurrrrrr."

"Okay, get ready. It's really good..."

"mblemurr..."

"What did Mickey Mouse do when Annette Funicello died?"

"..."

"He shed a Mouseke-tear!"

(Well, it's better when told verbally, because then it works on two levels: Mouseke...teer...tear.)

Still, it's different enough to be mine...no? It has a tailwind of crystal and steel.

Let's say it's an homage, which, really, it is.

And I could easily have come to the idea independently. I'm always looking for non-jewelry items to put in my work. Also, turnabout, there are pieces I see in other people's shops that incorporate the ideas and materials I've used or even intend to use, like the sword-belt chain I thought would be fantastic for a man's wallet/belt chain. I bought an old sword belt in an antique store in Texas; a couple of weeks later (before I had even made my piece), I saw that another Etsy seller had made a chain very much like the one I had in mind. Murr.

I mean, there are only so many ways to hang something around your neck...

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I want to be able to describe the things I sell in my Etsy shop. In googling for "types of chains," I've yet to come across a comprehensive site. Part of the problem is that I'm interested in using that brass chain with the ring that pulls open the antique lock on the top of the door in that old store.

Typical scenario: I walk into an antique store and address the salesperson.

Me: Do you have any brass chain?

Proprietor: There are some gold watch chains over in this case.

Me: What about that brass chain that's holding the lid of the case to the box? It has such a great patina...